Malaysian maritime agency expands search to Andaman Sea

KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 (Xinhua) -- The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has moved its search and rescue teams to the Andaman Sea to the south of Thailand to continue search for for the missing flight MH370, Malaysian official said here Wednesday.

Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Shahidan Kassim said the agency had widened the area of its operation in hope to find clues that may to the discovery of the missing plane.

"MMEA will aggressively intensify the search which is currently assisted by many foreign governments," he said.

A Malaysia Airlines flight carrying 227 passengers and 12 crew went missing in area near the South China Sea on Saturday as it flew from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Contact with the flight was lost along with its radar signal at 2:40 a.m. Beijing time on Saturday when it was flying over the Ho Chi Minh air traffic control area in Vietnam.